St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-07-02

arrow of polished wood and feather it
with the plume of bird, and then it
would fly from the bow-string of plated
silk. The broad fields of Agincourt, and
Solway Moss and Neville's Cross heard
the loud thrum of the archer's bow
string. Now, my Christian friends, we
have mightier weapon than that. 1t
is the arrow of the Gospel; it is a
sharp arrow; it is straight arrow; it is
feathered from the wing of the dove of
Gods Spirit; it flies from a bow made
out of the wood of the cross. AS far as
can estimate or calculate, it has
brought down four hundred million
souls. Paul knew how to bring the
notch of that arrow on to that bow
string, and it's whir was heard through
the Corinthian theatres and through the
courtroom, until the knees of Felix
knocked together 1t was that arrow
that stuck in Luther's heart when he
cried out: ooh, my sins! Oh, my sins"
If it strike man in the head it kills his
skepticism; if it strike him in the heel
it will turn his step; if it strike him in
the heart he throws up his hands, as did
one of old when wounded in the battle,
crying: ooh Galilean, Thou has con-
quered."
In the armory of the Earl of Pembroke
there are old corslets which show that
the arrow of the English used to go
through the st-plate, through the
body of the warrior, and out through the
back plate. What a symbol of that Cos
pei which is sharper than a two-edged
sword, piercing to the dividing asunder
of soul and body, and of the joints and
marrow! Would to God we had more
faith in that Gospel! The humblest man
in this house, if he had enough faith in
him, could bring hundred souls to Jesus
perhaps five hundred. Just in proper
ton as this age seems to believe less and
less in it, believe more in it, What
are men about that they will not accept
their own deliverance? There is nothing
proposed by men that can do anything
like this Gospel. The religion of Ralph
Waldo Emerson is the philosophy of
icicles; the religion of Theodore Parker
was sirocco of the desert, covering up
the soul with dry sand; the religion of
Renan is the romance of believing
nothing; the religion of Thomas
Carlyle is only a condensed Lon
don fog; the religion of the Hux-
legs and the Spencers is merely
pedestal on which human philosophy
sits shivering in the night of the
soul, looking up to the stars, offering
no help to the nations that crouch and
groan at the base. Tell me where there
is one man who has rejected that Gospel
for another, who is thoroughly satisfied,
and helped, and contented in his skeptic-
ism, and | will take the cars tomorrow
and ride 500 miles to see him. The full
power of the Gospel has not yet been
touched AS sportsman throws up his
hand and catches the ball flying through
the air, just so easily will this Gospel
after while catch this round world fly
ing from its orbit and bring it back to
the heart of Christ. Give it full
swing and it will pardon every
sin, heal every wound, cure every
trouble, emancipate every slave, and ran
som every nation. Ye Christian men
and women who go out this afternoon
to do Christian work, as you go into the
Sunday schools, and the lay preaching
stations, and the penitentiaries, and the
asylums, want you to feel that you bear
in your hand weapon, compared with
which the lightning has no speed, and
avalanches have no heft, and the thun-
derbolts of Heaven have no power; it is
the arrow of the omnipotent Gospel.
Take careful aim. Pull the arrow clear
back until the head strikes the bow
Then let it fly. And may the slain of the
Lord be many.
Again: If you want to be skillful in
spiritual hunting you must hunt in un-
frequented and secluded places. Why
does the hunter 60 three or four days in
the Pennsylvania forests or over Ra-
quette lake into the wilds of the Adj
rondacks? 1t is the only way to do.
The deer are shy, and one bang" of the
gun clears the forest. From the Califor-
mia stage you see, as you 60 over the
plains, here and there, coyote trotting
along, almost within range of the gun
sometimes quite within range of it. No
one cares for that; it is worthless The
good game is hidden and secluded. Every
hunter knows that So, many of the souls
that will be of most worth for Christ, |
and of most value to the church, are
secluded. They do not come in your
way. You will have to go where they
are. Yonder they are down in that
cellar, yonder they are up in that |
garnet: Far away from the door of any
church, the Gospel arrow has not been
pointed at them. The tract distributor
and the city missionary sometimes just
catch a glimpse of them, as a hunter.
through the trees gets momentary sight
Of a partridge or roe buck. The trouble
10 we are waiting for the game to come
TO US. We are not good hunters. We
are standing in Schermerhorn street, ex-
oecting that the timid antelope will
come up and eat out of our hand. We are
that the prairie-fowl will light
IN our church steeple. 1t is not their
habit. If the church should wait ten
Millions of years for the world to come
n and be saved, it will wait in vain.
The world will not come. What the
church wants now is to lift their feet
rom damask ottomans and put them in
he stirrups. We want pulpit on
wheels. The church wants not so much
as it wants saddlebags and
.rrows. We have got to put aside the
own and the kid gloves, and put on the
uniting shirt. We have been fishing SO
ong in the brooks that run under
he shadow of the church that the fish
now us, and they avoid the hook,
nd escape as soon as we come to
he bank, while yonder is Upper Saranac
nd Big Tupper's lake, where the first
wing of the Gospel net would break it
or the multitude of the fishes. There is
Inside work to be done. What is that
see in the backwoods 1t is tent.
Ill L. -